Harichandan had volunteered to undergo the test to rule out any possibility of contracting the virus from the Raj Bhavan staff who tested positive, including his chief security officer, a staff nurse and two attendants.

In a big relief to the officials of the Andhra Pradesh health department, Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan on Monday tested negative for Covid-19.

State nodal officer for Covid-19 Arja Sreekanth confirmed to HT that the governor had undergone test for the virus after four of the Raj Bhavan employees tested positive on Sunday evening.

Harichandan had volunteered to undergo the test to rule out any possibility of contracting the virus from the Raj Bhavan staff who tested positive, including his chief security officer, a staff nurse and two attendants.

“The governor has tested negative,” the nodal officer said.

However, as per the Covid-19 protocol, it is mandatory for any primary contact of the coronavirus positive patients to be in quarantine for a period of 14 days. So, the governor, too, would have to be under home quarantine for two weeks, Sreekanth said.

The officials of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation had carried out disinfectant operations at Raj Bhavan in Vijayawada, using drone, immediately after the four staff members tested positive on Sunday. All the four have now been undergoing treatment at the Vijayawada government general hospital.

Meanwhile, Vijayawada has become a hotspot for the dreaded virus. More than 160 of the total 210 positive cases reported in Krishna district are from Vijayawada city.

While a truck driver is said to have become responsible for spread of the virus to 23 other persons in Krishna Lanka area, another person who runs a tiffin centre at Karmiknagar area was found to have spread the disease to 17 others.